March blew in on Sunday with gusting winds and heavy downpours as a front swept through with cold air from Greenland. And that was followed by a colder blast yesterday, with wintry showers, snow, sleet and hail in northern parts of Britain.
So much for the start of spring, which, according to meteorologists, begins in March. But then March has a reputation for wild weather, as folklore says: “When March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb.” And the outlook for this month does indeed show some encouraging signs of spring arriving, with dry, calm and warmer weather this weekend over m

There is much in the news about ice in the Arctic melting, and the suggestion
that the UK needs an ambassador for the Arctic (The Times, February
27). But this is such a remote region that it’s often difficult to
comprehend the colossal changes taking place there. However, one country
somewhat closer to the UK gives a useful perspective on the effects of
climate change in a cold environment.
Iceland lies on the edge of the Arctic Circle and its climate is warming about
four times faster than most other areas of the world. Since about 1990,
temperatures have been rising

Winter is officially drawing to a close today and despite the ups and downs in
temperature it was a fairly average winter, overall — so much for the
three-month Arctic freeze that some newspapers had predicted. The Scottish
Highlands, however, did have some huge snowfalls as storms swept in, and the
ski resorts enjoyed a very good season with an estimated £14 million boost
to the economy from skiing and snowboarding, a 12 per cent increase on last
year. The ski season is far from over, with some very heavy snowfalls in the
western Highlands last week, and more forecast ov

What links the Sahara, the world’s largest desert, to the Amazon, the world’s
largest tropical rainforest? The answer: the Sahara nourishes the Amazon.
Vast clouds of fine dust are blown off the Sahara each year — dust that is
rich in minerals. A Nasa satellite reveals the extent of the contribution
that the Saharan dust makes to the fertility of the Amazon.
As winds rake the Sahara they lift up clouds of fine particles of dust, and
the dustiest place of all is the Bodélé Depression in Chad — an ancient lake
bed with rock minerals made up of dead micro-organisms rich in ph